chica (cheka)

[OSp.; cf. Sp. chico, fem. have been introduced by Moors, and to be chica, little. An old Spanish dance, said to the source of the fandango, the chaconne, the cachucha, the bolero, etc. chicalote (Sp. pron. chē-kä-lō'tā), n. [Mex.] A Mexican name given in southern California to a species of thorn-poppy, Argemone platyceras. chicane (shi-kan'), n. [F. chicane, trickery, sharp practice, caviling, wrangling, He strove to lengthen the campaign, And save his forces by chicane . Prior . His attornies have hardly one trick left; they are at an end of all their chicane . Arbuthnot , John Bull. You, a born coward, try a coward's arms, Trick and chicane . Browning, Ring and Book, I. 184. 2. A game similar to pall-mall, played on foot, in Langue doc and elsewhere, with a long-handled mallet and a ball of hard wood. It is played in an open field, like polo. chicane (shi-kan'), v.; pret. and pp. chicaned, ppr. chicaning. [ Give me but virtuous actions, and I will not quibble and IMG:content-0260.png:[blocks in formation] Alliterative Poems (ed. Morris), i. 604. chich3t, v. [ME. chichen, a ibilated form of chicken , chick, a var. of chuck : see chick2 , chuck1 . I. I. in trans. To chuck; chuck; cluck, as a hen. II, trans. To call by clucking, as a hen her young. She [the hen] clocketh hem, but when she fynt a corne, She chicheth hem and loith it hem before. Palladius , Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 25. chicha (che'chä), n. [Sp.] 1. Same as chico. -2. The mucilaginous seeds of Sterculia Chica , a South American tree. See Sterculia . of the gray kingbird or petchary flycatcher, chicheree (chich'e-re), n. [Imitative.] Aname Tyrannus do mini cens is, a clamatorial pa erine bird of the family Tyrannida. See petchary. Nearly akin to the King-bird is the Petchary or Chiche ree,. one of the most characteristic and conspicuous birds of the West Indies. Encyc. Brit., XIV. 81.